Ultra Metroid Fusion
by Lord Genesis Shadow
Summary: Samus is rendered unable to use her old abilities, but she accepts a mission that may end her life. But what if she had backup? Chapter four is up. Possible Samus/OC. Rated for violence and future cursing.
1. One bad hit, and a lot of dead bugs

Ultra Metroid: The scavenging hunter

Disclaimer: I do not own Metroid outside of having copies of most of the games.

I haven't done a Metroid fic before, so I hope this goes well. I do fics for stuff I may be a fan of, and I've been a Metroid fan since I was two. Even then, I was formidable. I had all the cheats, and I had all the upgrades and tanks without them. Anyway, I thought I'd give it a shot. This is no 'Mask of Zarkov', but then again, that author knew what he was doing. Ah but you probably don't want my ranting, so on with the fic.

…

'Thud', 'Shhhhh'. He was getting closer. His suit was damaged, and his weapons were almost out of ammo, save for the lasers in the eyes and the solid blade under the left elbow, but he was nearing is objective.

He had been thrown from his own dimension and was captured and forced to endure painful experiments. He now had Nanites giving him a Heads Up Display, as the doctors had told each other, as well as increases to his physical strength and speed.

His right arm was now bio-mechanical and fitted with a device that allowed him to hack into any device with a mere thought in seconds, and by hacking something, his nanites transferred data to an implant in his brain that allowed him to understand how the device functioned.

'Thunk', 'Shhhhh'. He had been outfitted with several 'upgrades' including having both of his eyes bio-modified with high powered lasers and several scanners, including thermal and MRI visual sensors. All of his senses were honed by the experiments to superhuman levels. Adding to that, the doctors had modified his DNA to make him age much slower and far more gracefully. It also enabled him to survive for several weeks without water, and up to six months without food before any negative effects would take place.

'Thud thud' (Slipped on a staircase), 'Shhhhh', 'Mumbled expletive starting with Shh'. He had been given an experimental camouflage device that rendered him invisible to the naked eye as well as thermal scans.

He was fitted for an experimental suit of powered armor. It had several internal oxygen scrubbers as well as a device that filtered oxygen from a water environment. It could also open a vent in the front plate to allow him to breathe freely on dry land or wherever there was an atmosphere that could support him. It was pressurized when the vent was closed so he could go into water or into space if the need arose.

It was equipped with a powerful set of thrusters mounted on the back, with extra thrusters on all sides of his shoulders, on his hips, the back of his calves, two on his chest and sides, one on each palm, and a pair of thrusters on the bottom of each foot. They sealed in water, but opened when on dry land. Two powerful turbines were equipped between the back thrusters, allowing him to swim faster in water. A pair of retractable wings could be deployed to stabilize him in flight or under water. The suit itself could float, but only if he increased the amount of oxygen within.

'Crrccrrckrrrck'. He turned his head and saw that the frigate was beginning to break apart. He had to get out fast, but the left leg was damaged in a fight with a pirate.

'Damn bug lookin' bastards.' He thought. 'I'm screwed if I don't get there soon.' He mentally cursed them and gave an incredulous laugh when one jumped down in front of him. "Dirty fuckin' bug!" He semi quoted a famous comedian as he fired the last of his plasma energy through his newly acquired 'Chozo Powersuit' arm cannon. "I've got to get those mini generators. This limited ammo is going to be the death of me." His suits face plate looked remotely human, albeit one without a mouth. Its visor was separated by a small bridged piece of metal to make it look more human, giving the appearance of two green eyes.

He had found a destroyed ship nearby where he was and recovered a few things from it, among them the famous Powersuit of Samus Aran. It was a bit beat up, but he had placed it in a safe spot in his ship.

There were three more, two in a de-activated form that looked like a thick coin with a stylized 'S'. The third was beyond repair, but he salvaged the arm cannon and the oxygen filter from it, along with a number of scanning devices, a stronger thrust device for his feet, a modification that allowed total freedom in water and immunity from magma and fuel gel, a device called the 'Screw Attack' which was activated by doing repeated aerial flips, and a 'speed booster'.

The booster was inoperable at the moment, as it needed a good starting run before it would kick in and his suits left leg was all but inoperable. His thrusters were also out of power.

Most of the suit was out of power, re-routing all but the combat and healing systems to life support. He could last maybe ten minutes before activating the emergency power and another ten on that.

The bug was vaporized but a small blue power cell dropped to the floor. He picked it up and inserted it into a socket on the left knee. It activated the local repair circuit and fixed minimal damage so he could walk a bit faster, but he needed more to re-engage the full servos.

"It beats death at least." He said. He lifted his leg and twisted his left ankle a few times before setting it down in front of him with a soft 'Thunk' and a hiss from the damaged pneumatics. "I've got to push for that extra emergency power cell. Even something that lets me rip a power cable out and shock some power into the suit would be okay. The suit can take the jolt..." 'Thunk', 'Shhhhh'. "And it would do some serious good on a ship like this old gal." Another bug dropped down and was blasted by his last missile, another salvaged device from Samus Aran's old suit.

It was powerful, but he could only carry ten missiles at the moment. The bug stood tall, but was bleeding its green blood onto the partially pressurized frigate deck.

'K-k-k-k-k-k-ki-kiki-kiiiii!' It screeched as it fired a small electrical shot, which missed by three feet.

The man in the suit looked behind him and saw that nothing was damaged as the bug fell to the ground and died. A pair of small red power cells rolled to his feet. The blue ones powered about five percent of an energy tank for his suit while the red ones fueled up to ten. Samus Aran once told a television crew about these small things that the bugs often carried.

'The Ki-hunter pirates carried several small power cells in all the battles I've ever seen them in.' She had explained. 'My suit, and those of the marines, can use this energy to replenish our suits power reserves. A blue one will charge about ten percent and are commonly carried by most pirates.' She had wagged her index finger on her left hand, since her right was encased in a large cannon. 'Never neglect the small things like these, they add up if you're careful. Red ones will charge a good twenty percent, but are a bit harder to come by since the pirates recharge their weapons with these first.

If we can get to them before they use them, we can usually find one or two. Lastly, yellow cells are by far the hardest to come by. They can fully recharge an energy tank and should be used sparingly since they're so hard to get. A pirate with a high enough rank is usually trusted with one, but some have two or three.

I myself find them hard to get, but I tend to use them rather quickly when pirates are involved, especially around Ridley.' That was all she said before she jumped onto her ship and climbed in.

"I wish I could find one of those yellow ones about now." He muttered. His suit was highly energy consuming so he could only get about half of what other models got. His suit was much more powerful with many more systems, this being why it used so much power. But he had placed an order for a special generator that would provide unlimited emergency power, but only up to fifteen percent of a single tank. It would let him repair breaches in the suit and could let him use his cloaking device long enough to get to a charge station, usually commonly found on frigates like this. "Even another couple of these guys would be great." He looked at his radar, sonar, and motion trackers and saw on his map that he had just killed the last pirate on board the ship. He inserted the cells into both legs and regained basic running speed, enough to get him to his ship with time to spare, but not enough to use the booster. 'This'll have to do.' He ran down the corridor as cracks appeared along the walls here and there. He stopped at his ship and opened the hatch. 'I've got the data, now I'm ghostin'.' He walked in and shut the hatch, telling the computer to leave the frigate.

He looked out the window as the ship pulled away. He was in space, watching a few pirates on the outside trying to get away from some kind of yellow and green blobs as the ship began breaking apart, the reactor finally starting to go critical.

The holographic lights scanned him up and down, the decontamination process going at full haste as the ship got out of range of the now glowing frigate, the BSL ship 'Sci-Fi Runner' was about to explode.

…

"Hello Father." He called. "How goes things?" He had nicknamed the ships computer Father, since it sounded like, and spoke like, a catholic priest.

He modified the holo image to fit, looking like an aged man of the cloth complete with a clean beard and hair.

"Fine my son." Father replied. "How hangs the hammer?" He chuckled softly as the computer used the phrase of the same comedian that he enjoyed when he was in his home dimension.

"Long and strong Father." He said. "But the suit is having a few problems. We're going to have to recharge the whole thing before I can get out." He walked out of the de-con chamber and was met by a full sized hologram of Father. He took off the helmet and held it under his left arm and pointed to the chest plate. "One of the pirate commanders managed a lucky plasma shot and welded the latch shut, and a bad dodge on my part let him land a solid blow to the pneumatic on the left ankle." The ship shook slightly as the old frigate detonated, taking out the pirates and whatever the blobs were. He had captured one red blob in a containment vial and had kept it safe from the pirates. "They're getting more and more daring Father, and that means I'm going to push for those 'Missile tanks' that Samus uses. Ten more ought to be enough for a while. Simply put, ten missiles just aren't going to cut it." He stepped into a chamber and put the helmet on again as a glass door shut around him.

"Be that as it may, you still need to pick up those checks." Father said slowly as he sat on a newly formed holographic chair. "And you have a new job waiting at the BSL medical frigate. It appears that she has been rendered unable to fight. Those suits you acquired were indeed hers and she may want at least one of them back." He pulled a small black book from behind him and began flipping through the pages. "And as against my standard programming as it is, I recommend hiding one of them for your own use. You never know when you'll need it." The man in the chamber nodded his head slowly, thinking about how Samus Aran could have been beaten. She was the best bounty hunter in the galaxy, if not the universe.

"Did you find out what happened?" He asked. Father shook his head.

"No." He answered. "They said that you would be briefed upon arrival. They also said that you would be paid a handsome amount just for being there for the briefing. Seven hundred seventy seven thousand to be exact. They remembered you're love of those lucky numbers." The man thought for a moment as his suit repaired all of the damage and refilled the air tanks.

"Well, I can't very well ignore that now can I?" He mused. "They want to see me, and see me they shall. When is the meeting anyway?" He stepped out and pressed a button that made the suit vanish.

In truth, it was absorbed into his bio-mechanical arm, but he always said that it was somewhere else. Father stared blankly for a moment before putting his hands together, the small book vanishing.

"Thursday, three standard Earth days from now." He answered. "I suggest that you get there early. Tomorrow in fact. Today, we get your paycheck. Also, the upgrades you requested are at the place where you are to be paid." He moved his hands away and scratched his holographic beard. "Perhaps I should take my suit and accompany you. I've always wanted to speak with Earl in person, so to speak. He is so well versed in machinery, mayhap I can ask for a stun blaster for myself?" The man chuckled lightly.

"Sure." He said with a smile. "You've saved me more than a few times; it can't hurt to have you back me up on those slow missions." Father clasped his hands together again.

"Thank you Gene." He said joyfully. "I promise to be on my best behavior." Gene nodded.

"You always are Father." Gene said. He put his right hand to his chin, scratching his own stubble. "Maybe I should give you a second part to your designation." Father put his holo-hand to his chin and thought for a moment.

"Perhaps." Father agreed. "It would help people to think that I am not your actual father." Gene chuckled as he put his hands into his pants pockets.

He was wearing old worn out Levi jeans and an equally worn gray T-shirt. He didn't wear shoes in his armor because it was uncomfortable. His hair was bright silver, as were his eyes.

Oddly, when his body initiated an adrenaline rush, his hair would glow brighter and move as if by a breeze and his eyes would glow equally, the pupils taking on cat-like slits.

"How about Frank?" He suggested. Father 'Hmmmmmed' once before looking at Gene.

"Father Frank." He said, as if to test the name. "I like it." The newly christened Father Frank stood up and disappeared. "Shall I prepare the jump?" Came his disembodied voice.

Gene walked into the cockpit and sat in the pilot seat and ran his right index finger along a string of switches, turning them all on. He had the ship customized with this feature since most ships startup buttons were nowhere near each other and he wanted to shave a few seconds off pre-flight starting sequences with an old piano trick. He placed his safety harness on and pulled a lever back slowly.

"Little hand says it's time to book." With that, the ships engines roared to life.

The ship was made to look like a ship from a movie called 'Star Wars', specifically the Millennium Falcon.

He had named it the 'Silver Peregrine' after his favorite color and a species of falcon, and because he thought it sounded cool. On the side of the ship, next to the cockpit was a picture of a silver peregrine falcon with the words 'I brake for cash and justice' under it. A second set of words were on the back, just under the engines, reading 'Peace is all right, but it'd put us out of a job.' under which was a picture of his suit covered with rust.

Regardless of this, the ship vanished and reappeared near a space station an hour later. It was 'Red Star V', a bounty hunter hangout where Gene and Father Frank could often be found during their down time or when they were picking up checks or fresh contracts.

…

Repairs finished. Moving up from Notepad is excellent, since I can check my progress and actually locate the errors as they appear, be they spelling or grammar mistakes. This should be posted by Saturday at the earliest, Sunday at the latest.


	2. Upgrades, injections, and a downed hero

Disclaimer: I only own a few Metroid video games in physical manifestations; I have no other form of ownership relating to the series. I do own the original characters though. I thought 'em up, they belong to my mind. Wherever it may be at any given time.

Making repairs to each chapter for better flowing dialogue seems all that my mind can stand lately. Something in my creativity section of my brain is stopped up for some reason. I guess it's from lack of stimulus of my story materials. Oh well, you don't want to hear about that.

Ah, just remembered. I didn't give very good details of the suit. It looks kind of like the Rx-78-1 Gundam prototype (Think the original Gundam, only gray. If you can't, play Mobile Suit Gundam: Encounters in space. It's a playable suit in versus.) with the maul from 'Predator: Concrete Jungle' on the left arm, and a bulky version of Samus' arm cannon on the right, but with the difference being that it can retract, kind of like Megamans' Buster arm.

…

When Frank and Gene left the ship, not one person even looked at them. He knew around thirty of the three thousand people who frequented the station and almost all of the bartenders and weapon dealers. He only knew three contacts that gave him his jobs, but usually stuck with Earl.

He liked Earl because he was casual in their meetings and almost always treated them to bonus technology depending on how much trouble they had with their jobs. In fact, their ship was the first bonus he had given them.

The first ever job was breaking out of the facility that gave Gene his abilities, weapons, and his suit, which was quickly dubbed 'Genesis II' after Genes project name, Project Genesis, from which he derived his own name though shortening it for his friends.

"So where is Earl meeting us?" Father Frank asked. "I must admit that I've never been here before." Gene chuckled.

"Yeah, I forgot that you've only been outside the ship a few times in that shell." Gene said. He looked over at his companion, admiring Earl's detailed work on the mechanical shell that Father Frank would use when he left the ship. "Though it looks good. If I didn't know better, I'd say you were a real priest." Frank laughed quietly.

He had been the second bonus, an evolving AI program for the suit to help Gene get around the facility. Frank would often take control of the camo system to hide them when they were too outnumbered to have an even match. Though Frank was originally from the facility, he was liberated through Earl hacking him a way out.

"Thank you." He said. "I must admit that Earl knows what he is doing when it comes to, to just about anything to be honest." Gene nodded and pointed to a large warehouse.

"That's the place." He confirmed. "Oh, and be mindful of the oil on the floor. It tends to blend in with the floor at times, and the ground is none to soft." Frank nodded as they walked in through a side door.

…

Inside was a large burly man with overalls and a hardhat twisting a screwdriver with his right hand and was holding an object with the other. His nametag revealed that he was Earl.

"Yo Earl, how goes it?" Gene called. He walked up and put his left arm on the counter while Earl looked up. He had red hair and a scruffy red beard and mustache.

"Gene, you hell raiser!" Earl said loudly. He held out his right hand and shook Genes as Frank stood by, fiddling with a silver cross on his neck. His robot body looked exactly like the hologram, though in proper color. His hair was stark white, as were his eyebrows and beard. He wore the traditional attire for a catholic priest and even had a bible in a pocket in his coat. "Father, how are you?" Earl did the customary hand gestures as Frank raised his right hand.

"I am fine my son, though I now have another designation." He replied. Earl scratched his beard while Gene picked up the small device that the mechanic was fiddling with. "I am now, Father Frank."

"Father Frank." Earl muttered as he looked at the robots face and nodded. "Perfect. You definitely look like a Frank." Frank nodded as Earl pulled out a small PDA. "Gene, sign here and the parts will be yours, as will thirty thousand smackers." Gene set down the now functioning device as Earl stared at it.

"Okay, and done." Gene murmured. His name signed, Earl pulled out several small boxes and pointed at the smallest of them.

"Em-485 power charger." He explained. "It'll keep your weapons at full, and provide a little kick in your kick." He pointed at the next of three boxes. "Dx-101 'Dynamo' charger. This'll keep your suits power reserves at fifteen percent, but you have to wait three seconds without takin' a hit for it to kick in. I wish I had a better model, but the 131 is a bit tough to come by. I'm workin' on one, but this guy won't take less than a flat mil." Gene whistled. "That's a story for another time." He pointed to the final box, the biggest of them. "Xz-001 prototype cutting laser. Heavy duty, but short range. Only about four feet. Knowing you, you'll use it as a makeshift beam sword." Gene nodded. "Let me know how it works and I'll collect the data another time and use it to make the double ought two." He pulled out a long box and a medium sized square box. "And the bonus, seeing as you ran out of missiles and almost out of power. I got you these babies." He opened the long box and Gene felt a tear form in his left eye.

"An Ms-277 Missile System." He said quietly. "I thought they'd all been destroyed." Earl shook his head with a smile as Frank looked into the box. The device was a small metal rectangle with a few wires. It looked like it was designed for the arm cannon Samus used.

"This is the last one in existence." Earl explained. "I saved her by saying that it was stolen and the ship went critical." Gene picked up the small device and rubbed it against his cheek.

"This is going to save me so much trouble." He said. Frank looked at it and remembered that Gene had told him about it once before. Samus Aran had used one to salvage material from dead pirate armor to make more missiles when she ran out. That was the same device Gene was placing so tenderly into its box. "You're the best Earl."

"And the good news doesn't end there." Earl said. He opened the second box and Gene looked like he was about to have an emotional moment. He and Earl spoke in unison the parts designation and number. "An Ls-777 'Lucky Sucker' power system." Gene ran his hand over the plastic casing and spoke softly.

"Only three ever made, and the first two were destroyed before they could reach their destination." He said. He looked at Frank. "This optimizes a power cell charging system to work at double efficiency. This would have revolutionized the Space Marines suits, and it would have made Samus nearly invincible." He looked back at a smiling Earl. "How in Space did you get this?" Earl winked at him.

"Let's just say that this baby found itself in better hands than the man who ordered it in the first place." He said slyly.

Gene opened the package and placed his right hand on the chip. When he moved his hand, it was gone. He did the same to the other parts and smiled.

"You are the king Earl." He said seriously. "No question, you are the master." He saluted his friend and looked at Frank who was doing the same. "And, if it's not too much trouble sire. Frank would like a stun blaster so he can help out with the minor contracts." Earl laughed and pulled out a pair of Stun pistols.

"No sweat." He said with a smile. "I knew he'd want one someday, so I made these out of a pair of S-45's. The same model that saved Samus in her first mission against the space pirates." Earl set the pistols on the counter as Frank stared at them.

They had obsidian handles with the image of a silver cross on either side. The barrels were longer than the standard model, with a name on each. He picked them up and looked at the names. The one in his left hand was called 'Peace' and the one in his right hand was 'Purity'.

"They're divine." He said. "I shall make sure to keep them safe Earl." With that, Frank put the pistols into his pockets.

"And I'll make some holsters for them." Gene said.

He smiled as he thought of his new upgrades and how he would be able to survive far more dangerous missions with less trouble. The generator would, with a few modifications on their way to the BSL medical ship, allow him to slowly, but effectively, make any repairs he needed during a mission.

…

After talking a while with Earl, the twosome had left the shop and returned to the ship where Gene retired to his own workshop to make the belt and holsters.

He blackened some leather and put some silver crosses at even points along the belt, putting a silver buckle on the front that had a gold cross in the center. The holsters were old fashioned, like a Wild West gunslingers, also black, but with silver crosses on the sides facing out. The left holster was labeled 'Peace' and the right 'Purity', in honor of the guns themselves.

Frank had pulled the ship out and set the course for the Medical frigate. He then sat down in his body's recharge seat and shut the body down. His holo body now had the pistols in either hand, having grown fond of them quite fast.

"It feels good to know that I can protect people now." He said happily. Gene nodded as he fastened the holsters to the belt.

"Yeah." He replied. "I know that people will be talking about you for years." He picked up a small paint brush and some silver paint. "Now for the finishing touch." Frank watched as Gene carefully painted five letters on the sides of the belt, a capital 'P', 'a', 'd', 'r', and an 'e'. "All finished Padre." Frank chuckled.

"Is that to be my bounty hunting alias?" He asked. Gene nodded.

"It's an old thing from my world." He explained. "Catholic priests had a number of ways of being referred to. 'Padre' means 'Father' in Spanish, if memory serves. I don't know why they call priests Father, never have. I guess it makes them easier to open up to in the confessionals." Frank nodded as Gene picked up the belt. It had several small pouches on it, as well as a small place that looked about the size of a bible. The leather straps that made up that part formed two crosses, and a silver cross in the middle made Frank certain that it was indeed for the bible. "I'd better get some shut eye. It's going to be a long flight, and I'm sure that I'm going to be treated to a lecture on my suit again." He sighed as he walked by the de-activated robotic body of his companion.

He placed the belt on the table next to the body and walked down the hall to his quarters, trusting that Frank would wake him an hour or two before arriving.

"Pleasant dreams my son." Frank called. Gene absently raised his right hand, his classic 'back atchya' gesture.

…

Gene entered his room and looked it over. It wasn't small, but it couldn't be called big either. There was a single round window which pointed to the front of the ship, so he could get an idea where the ship was headed. A poster beside it depicted a small device, a generator much different than the one he had just acquired.

He had pulled the generator from his suit and placed it on a machine that he programmed to increase its power output to about twenty seven percent. He would pick it up before leaving the ship and re-install it.

Schematics littered the walls, a few pet projects he was working on. Earl could get him top of the line tech, but Gene loved fiddling with parts to make his own unique upgrades.

He lay down on his bed, a double simply because he rolled around in his sleep. He wondered how he would wake up when he did. Morning, mid-day, afternoon, and night were relative to the planet or planetoid you were on. Time was a pain to master, and Gene was from a world where space travel was limited to his planets moon, so being in space and traveling around a galaxy with no trouble was something he was still getting used to.

He pulled his blanket around himself and drifted off peacefully, not knowing that he was in for the biggest set of shocks in his life when he got to the medical frigate.

…

"Gene, we are on approach to the BSL medical frigate." Father called, pulling him from a deep sleep. "ETA: Twenty minutes." Gene scratched his chin, which pointed to the ceiling. He opened his eyes and sat up. He had managed to reverse where his head and feet where when he had first fell asleep.

'Not as bad as Tuesday.' He thought as he got up and stretched. He checked his clock and saw that it had been sixteen hours since he had fallen asleep. "I must have been more wiped than I thought." He opened his door and went into his lab. He picked up his generator and re-absorbed it into his arm, adding it to the suit that thousands recognized as 'Genesis MkII'. He chuckled as he felt the ship stop. "What's up Frank? We docked already?" Frank entered the room in his robotic shell, finishing putting the blasters into his holsters.

"Yes." He replied calmly. "They moved to intercept us to speed things up. I found that they want to talk to you right away. They wanted to speak on the ship so they could speak to me as well. I told them about your rules and that I'd be with them anyway. That satisfied them enough I guess. Gerard DeSol will be meeting us." Gene began frowning.

"The frickin' president of the galaxy?" He said angrily. "I'm going in with the suit, and that's final."

Gene had found out that the president was the one who ordered his being experimented on and tried occasionally to get him back to the lab to be fitted with some device that would 'better control the machinery', and Gene knew that by machinery, he meant Gene and everything attached to him. Gene had given the president a pat on the back, a kind smile, and a loud resounding 'No.' and walked away, looking happy. The reason being, he had put red ants on his seat in his limo. As Gerard screamed in pain and surprise, Gene had engaged his camo system and went to his ship.

"Are you certain that is a wise choice?" Frank asked.

Gene nodded as he tapped what looked like a tattoo of a gun on his right wrist and his armor materialized on him, with the vents open since the station had fresh air.

The airlock opened and they stepped out to a greeting president, but the only other people were his aide and a man in a lab coat. They walked down the exit ramp and stopped when they stepped off of it. The ramp went up and sealed itself with a quiet hiss as the seams disappeared.

"Gene, Father, it's good to see you again." The president said. He held his right hand out to Gene, who crossed his arms. "I thought not. You do know how to hold a grudge." He shook Franks hand and his Aide jotted down several notes.

"When you take a mans rights away just because he's from a different dimension and turn him into a science project, you should expect a while without good feelings." Gene said. He turned his head and looked at the room and did a quick analysis, and finding nothing wrong, he pressed a button that opened the face of the helmet to breathe easier. "So what did you want to speak to us about?"

"Right to the point I see." Gerard noted. "I just wanted to congratulate Father on his choices. It takes real intelligence to have hacked himself out of our system and into your suit to get away from us. We've given up on retrieving you Father, and I hope you don't regret helping Gene." Gene laughed quietly. His natural HUD scanners let him know that the Gerard was either genuine or a very good actor. "And Gene, we have a monstrous situation." His face looked grim. "A parasite has been found in the universe, though it's only on one planet, SR-388." Gene looked seriously at the president.

"Does it look like a freaky blob?" He asked. Gerard, his aide, and the man in the lab coat nodded in sync. "Kind of looks like it's hopped up on sugar, really twitchy?" Another nod. "Comes in different colors?" A third nod. "Looks like this?" He pulled out the vial with the red blob. It was very small, but it could be seen easily against the hermetically sealed tube.

"That's one of them." The man in the lab coat affirmed. "That's an X parasite." Gene looked at the man in the coat suspiciously.

"And you would be?" He asked. The man fixed his glasses.

"Mitchell Stephenson." He answered. "I worked on the project involving you. I designed the power unit for your suit, nothing to do with you directly of course aside from the measurements." Gene chuckled as he lowered the vial.

"Thanks." He said politely. "But you should have put a self recharging power cell somewhere. I keep running out of power at the worst of times." Mitchell rubbed the back of his head and looked sorry. "It's fine; I found an upgrade or two that counteract most of the problem. So what mission would you ask of me Gerard?" His tone was bored, like he knew something bad was coming and he couldn't stop it.

…

The situation was grim. Samus had been infected by an X parasite and was slowly dying. Her suit was ruined beyond recognition. The very thing that so many recognized as her was being researched for a cure, but it was a sad sight.

Gene removed his helmet when he saw her. He had been briefed in full about it and agreed to fight.

But if the X couldn't be killed by normal means, he was all but useless, little more than a target of infection. He stared through the glass at her as she tossed and turned, a yellow ooze leaking from small parts of the armor.

"Oh, this is bad." He said. "This is the very definition of bad." He looked at Gerard and gave him an evil glare. "What in the seven Hells were you thinking?"

Gerard looked through the glass with Gene, Frank having returned to the ship since his moment was over.

"We wanted samples of life from the planet, and our guys were getting hammered." Gerard replied. "We were running low on Marines, so we called her to protect some of our scientists. She killed what she thought was a Hornoad, and it turned into a yellow X. She shot at it, but it just slammed onto her suit and seeped in." He sighed. "She must have thought it was just a whirlwind flinging blood on her so she finished her mission." He looked at the floor. "She was in her ship and I think she blacked out. Her ship ejected her and was destroyed." Gene looked at his right arm, or rather the cannon that was on it.

"I saw." He said quietly. "I checked the wreckage and salvaged a few things. A few weapons and a messed up suit. I gave one an honorable send off, blasting it into oblivion with the ships 'Hyper-Laser'." Gerard looked up hopefully at him.

"Did you find any reasonably good suits?" He asked with a half smile. "Perhaps we can find a way to reproduce them and adapt them for normal use, for her sake. We can't let this kind of thing..." Gene was shooting him a very angry glare so Gerard shut his mouth.

"I know that her suits are powerful, but I will not allow something like her weaponry be mass produced." He said coldly. "You tried to make me into a mindless weapon; I will not let you sully her good name. She is dying, and you want to make her armor into some kind of toy for your own amusement." Gerard held up his hands in defeat, hoping to escape a lecture.

"Actually, we might be able to save her, and make you immune to the X." A hissing voice said from behind them. Gene looked and saw a lizard looking alien.

"You would be Dr...." He began. The lizard gave a quick bow before holding a pair of vials in either hand before him.

"Sylvantas." He said quickly. "Dr. Sylvantas. And I realized that Metroids fed on energy, and the X have been found to be almost pure energy parasites. It turns out that Metroids are the natural predators of the X." Gene nodded. He'd read her reports when he went on a mission involving Metroids. He had actually captured one and kept it under lock and key with a special recharging power cell to feed it. It was unable to grow to its next stage of development for reasons unknown and he intended to keep it that way. "And I've synthesized two batches of a serum from a Metroid cell culture that should cure Samus and make her immune to further infection. A single dose will do all that for her, and the second is for you." Gene chuckled.

He didn't think it was possible at first, but remembered that the doctor's species' were remarkably brilliant. He'd found out that one of his kind spearheaded the lasers in his eyes, as well as the muscle enhancing nanites in his body.

"Really?" Gene asked. Dr. Sylvantas nodded, hoping that he was reading facial cues correctly. He didn't have lips and couldn't make expressions, but was learning slowly how to read those of others.

"Yes." He affirmed. "If you help Samus, you will be greatly rewarded, and I'm sure that you will wish to help her. I've read that you are a great fan of hers." Gene nodded.

"Yeah." He said, rubbing the back of his head. "I make no attempt to hide that I like her style." He paused for a moment. "Where did you get the cell cultures?" The president cleared his throat.

"That's classified, top secret." Gerard said quickly. Gene chuckled as he coughed into his hand.

"Fine, I'm not pressing this." He said with a shrug. "I should have been top secret, and now you're paying for it Gerard. I'll leave it be, for now." Gene turned to the doctor as his makeshift arm cannon receded, showing his bare right arm. "I'll do it, so inoculate me doc." Sylvantas wagged his reptilian tale once before loading the serum into an injection gun and injected the light turquoise serum into his right arm. The cannon returned shortly after and Gene disengaged his armor, confident that if the president tried anything, his laser eyes would annihilate him. "Feels kind of, weird."

"I'm certain that it will cause you to grow a layer of slime-like substance over your flesh, and over your armor when you engage it from now on." Sylvantas explained. "You can use both energy cells or X parasites to restore power to your suit. You may also be able to recover power by biting, or somehow latching onto, any source of energy, be it biological or electrical or any energy like that." Gene looked down and saw his skin begin oozing a silver gelatinous substance from his pores. It didn't hurt, since his DNA had already been tampered with, but it felt oddly refreshing.

"Funky, but in a good way." He said. He smiled as he looked at his left arm. He had grown longer fingernails, though now they resembled claws, and miniscule things resembling the 'teeth' under a Metroid forming on his wrist. "I think I'm going to like this. Thank you Dr. Sylvantas, I'll be sure to repay you for this." He looked at the president as the substance stopped growing. He looked normal, but like he was wearing a skin tight suit over most of his body. "And speaking of pay, I believe I'm getting paid just for being here. Isn't that right Mr. President?" Gerard sighed as he pulled out a check for the aforementioned $777,000.00. Gene chuckled as he resumed his armored form and walked behind the lizard Dr. into Aran's room.

…

Repairs effected, feeling good, getting hungry. Still, for my readers, I'll do what it takes to make my stories flow a little better. Also, I'd like to say that I'm still working hard on the Magical sequel. I'm just a little more than stuck at the moment.


	3. Meetings, missions, and missiles

Samus Aran awoke with a start and sat up and pointed her arm cannon at Gene, who was now unarmored and reading a small book on molecular genetics

Disclaimer: I don't own Metroid. I own a few of the games in physical form, but Nintendo owns the rights. The only things of this work of fiction that is mine and mine alone, is Gene, Father Frank, and Earl. Maybe the president, since I made up his name and the past around him and Gene.

I'm updating almost as frequently as I did when I started. That may have been my downfall in the past, I'm not certain. I may have a way to transit from one section from another now that doesn't involve sevens, so that should be nice. Anyway, on with the fic, already in progress.

...

Samus Aran awoke with a start and sat up and pointed her arm cannon at Gene, who was now unarmored and reading a small book on molecular genetics.

"And a good morning to you to Samus." He put the book in his shirt pocket and stretched his arms. "You have been unconscious for some time now. Kudos for beating the spread." She looked at her arm cannon, then at her suit.

"What happened to me?" She looked at Gene as he rubbed his left arm, feeling a light chill in the air.

"You were attacked by a parasite made of energy." He held up a finger for each thing he mentioned as she looked. "You passed out in your ship. Your ship ejected you and crashed. Your power suit was picked apart by doctors trying to save you. I came here and have been assigned to escort you to a mission, and you and I are now part Metroid." He heard her gasp as she pressed a button that lowered her helmet. She looked down and gasped again at the look of her suit. A green substance covered it in place of her armor plating.

"Part Metroid? But how?" Gene shrugged.

"They saved a couple of Metroid cells and made two doses of anti X serum and injected both of us. We will be paid handsomely to get revenge for you by trying to figure out what happened to a bunch of scientists on a BSL research center." Samus stared at him incredulously and noticed that he had a similar substance as her suit on his body. "And this stuff on me is a side effect of the serum, since you seem so interested. It covered your damaged suit and modified your helmet and cannon. We can now absorb energy like Metroids from almost any living source or any power source. When you feel like you can walk, the president wants to brief you and have you accompany me to my ship. I'll be waiting in the mess hall." Gene stood up and stretched again. "I hope they have some Philly cheese steaks, I'm starving." He walked to the door and stopped. "Ah, the heck with it." He sat down on a chair next to the door. "Ger wants me to keep close to you for a while. I guess I'll just use the electrical outlet. They did say we could absorb almost any kind of energy." He placed one of his fingers at the socket and the room dimmed for a moment until he removed his finger. "Huh."

"What is it?" Gene looked at his finger.

"I can taste the electricity." He inspected his finger and shrugged.

"Really?" Gene looked at her before pulling out his book again.

"Kind of tangy, but a bit sweet. Not bad." He flipped to the spot he was at before, wondering when Samus would be completely able to move about again. "How do you feel?" She looked at him oddly.

"What do you care?" She heard him chuckle softly. "What? Happy seeing me like this?"

"Kind of. Your eyes are very pretty." She blushed as she returned her helmet to its standard position. "And we're technically related, both of us sharing the DNA from a metroid hatchling." He turned the page and quickly viewed what it had said.

"Why are you here again?" Gene raised his eyes and returned them to the book, bent the corner of the page, and closed it.

"I've got a job from the president, and I'm being asked to wait for him to brief you before either of us can leave this room. If you have a problem with that, I can sit behind a screen and you won't hear another word until I leave." She shook her head.

"It's okay. I, just don't deal with people often. At least ones that aren't either in the marines or are trying to kill me." She gave a hollow laugh. "I guess it's been a while since I've actually spoken to another living person."

"That's okay. I've got to put up with an AI program that sounds like a catholic priest. Father Frank, I've come to know him as." He heard her laugh quietly as the door opened. "And here comes the man of the hour. This is my cue to take a nap." Gene leaned back and shut his eyes.

"Ever so dramatic, that one." Gerard began to chuckle when he heard Gene start snoring quietly. "I guess he wasn't joking."

"What is it that you want from us Mr. President? I'd like to get out of here as soon as possible." Gerard sat in the chair next to Samus and pulled out a PDA.

"This is the BSL research station at SR-388." The picture was of the large upright asteroid-looking station. "There have been reports of an explosion in the quarantine bay and we think it might have something to do with the pieces of your suit that were sent there. And no, I can't tell you why." Samus took the PDA and scanned the information as the president looked at her new suit.

"So you want me and this guy to check it out?" She nodded to Gene who was clearly asleep, occasionally shifting slightly.

"Yes. Gene is qualified for this mission, and he is an avid fan of yours. Though he won't be begging for an autograph, he finds your approach to hunting inspiring." She looked over at him for a moment before looking for a notion of how much she would be paid for her services.

"How much is the job?" Gerard chuckled.

"That is negotiable upon completion of the mission, within reason of course." Samus handed him the PDA and swung her legs over the edge of the bed, making Gene open his eyes.

"I like the sound of that. When do we start?" Samus stared at him, curious as to whether he had actually been sleeping.

"As soon as you can." Gene stood up and stretched while Samus just stood up.

"What about my ship? He told me it crashed." Gerard nodded silently.

"Yes. Completely totaled, even the computer systems." He clasped his hands together. "We will provide a ship for you, or you can go in his ship. Your choice." Samus shuddered, though she didn't show it.

"What's the catch if you give me a ship?"

"There is an AI program that will relay our instructions to you, which you would relay to Gene. Or not, again your choice." She shuddered again.

"I'll go with Gene. I'd rather not take orders from a machine." Gerard smiled, and Samus cringed while Gene absently scratched his scruffy beard.

"In that case, we will relay instructions through Father, who will advise Gene, who will assist you however he can." She cringed again. "Gene never follows our orders, and though he will technically supposed to be giving you orders, he probably won't bother."

"Yeah. I just give advice. Up to you what you do with it. Follow it, ignore it, do what you will. I'm no military man, and I don't give orders to those whose experience and skill far out does my own." Gene pressed the symbol on his right wrist and his armor reappeared, startling Samus. "Yeah, I know. It's kind of scary to watch me pull the armor out. You get used to it. We'd probably best be going. I've got a check to cash, and we've got a decent flight ahead of us." He opened the door and stepped out, his footsteps considerably quieter than they were the other day.

...

As the ship approached the station Gene was making a modification to his suit. He was removing the solid blade on his left arm and was attaching a hilt to it. Samus was waiting in the living area, looking around without her helmet. She didn't know that Gene had taken her power suits and had hidden them and was planning to give them to her after the mission. He would also offer her a room on the ship until she managed to get a new one for herself.

"How are you doing Miss Aran? Can I get you a beverage before we dock?" Samus looked at the hologram. Gene told the truth. Father Frank deserved his title and wore it well.

"I'm okay for now. Thank you any way." Frank bowed politely and walked into Gene's workshop. She stood up and walked up to the workshop doorway.

"Gene, we will be arriving shortly. Would you like to leave any standby orders?" She wondered if she should interject with something when she heard him clear his throat.

"First off, the usual are in place. Second, hack into the security network; acquire the passwords however you have to. Third, keep an eye on us with the cameras. Fourth, if you see Samus in any danger you know she can't handle, summon all security bots with full assault readiness to protect her if I can't get to her in time. I don't want her dead if we can help it, she already came too close with those damn X before. Fifth, if Samus and I fail, recover our bodies and use the machine to restore us as best you can.

I'm not dying here, not when we've got a negotiable paycheck on the line." Samus chuckled as she walked to the airlock door. She didn't know him well, but she started to like him. He didn't objectify her, and it had been a while since she last had been on a date. She was considering asking him out later, if he survived. "And last, I want you to keep her from listening in on us further like this.

I don't know why she would think that we couldn't hear her outside the doorway while it's open, or see her shadow." Samus chuckled. She hadn't thought of that. Gene poked his head out of the door and looked at her. "If you want to hear what we're talking about, by all means, just enter the room." She laughed quietly. He looked comical the way he had his head poking out from the door frame.

...

"We've arrived. I shall open the exterior door in a moment when we set down. May you go with God, or whomever you worship." Samus giggled as she entered the airlock with Gene close behind, donning his armor once more.

"See you later Padre. And if something gets in here and tries to damage the ship, get out as fast as you can." Frank nodded as they stepped into the small room. The door closed behind them as Gene started activating his combat systems.

"So how long have you been a hunter?" Gene looked at her, not expecting her to be so talkative. She rarely spoke to anyone, and then only when she had a lecture or a dismissal.

"About three years. You?" She chuckled.

"Five years. Started as soon as I turned eighteen." Gene nodded.

"Cool." She started swaying on her feet; surprised it would take this long to land. "Don't mind Frank. He takes forever to land this thing on a mission when time isn't a factor." He heard her sigh.

"I just want to get to the bottom of this so I can get a ship." Gene nodded again.

"You can stay on the Peregrine until then." She looked up at him. She was tall, but he stood a half a foot above her even without his armor.

"You don't mind having me here? I can be a bit demanding at times, and I hate waking up early." Gene chuckled as they felt the ship touch down.

"It's fine. If you need something, Frank will do whatever it takes to help you. As for waking up early, it doesn't matter. Wake up when you want, go to sleep when you want. On the Peregrine, time is relative to whatever time you feel like it is. To me, today feels like a Tuesday, so as far as Frank or I care, it is." Samus laughed to herself as the door opened.

...

"Where do we go first?" Gene shrugged.

"Until we get you some proper weapons to get you back up to snuff, I think we ought to stay close together." Samus nodded. "Padre, have you got the maps yet?" Samus almost yelped as a small three dimensional map was displayed in the top left corner of her suits HUD. "Thanks Father. Keep us posted and help when you can. Gene out."

"So where do we go from here?" A small dot appeared some distance on her map from where they were.

"The quarantine bay is there, so I guess that's where we start." They started walking and began readying there weapons. Gene holding his right arm in his left, prepping his plasma cannon and warming it up slightly. Samus readied her arm cannon in a similar manner, holding it in front of her and readying her standard shot since most of her weapons were gone. All she had was a standard Power Beam, thruster assisted jumps, and her skill as a hand to hand combatant.

"I feel so weak." Gene opened the door by shooting it with a single plasma bolt. He noted that doors were messed up at times, requiring external stimulus from a weapon to open.

You could use a keypad, but it took longer than simply shooting the dumb door. Security shields held some doors for specific kinds of beam weapons, and some wouldn't open no matter what you hit them with until you unlocked the security system surrounding it. In his dimension, opening a door meant either turning a handle, or a knob. "Without my power suit, I feel almost like a child." Gene chuckled.

"I know how you feel. When I first got this suit, all I had was the blade, a few popgun grade machine guns, and a pair of lasers in the eyes that were stuck on the lowest setting. Took me a year to get this thing really goin'." He heard Samus chuckle. "And I'm still not fully used to this thing yet."

"Really. After so many years with it, I'd think you'd have it down to a science." She saw him shake his head.

"This thing is self evolving at times, and I make it a habit of upgrading it whenever possible. Just yesterday, I acquired an emergency generator. It's not much, but it keeps the power level at a constant twenty seven percent if I can avoid getting hit." Samus scoffed. "Don't mock it. Twenty seven percent is enough to make a quick retreat to a recharge station. And I modified it to work for my weapons. I didn't even have a stable generator for my cannon for a while." He heard her laugh as he opened another door.

"Seriously?" Gene blushed, thankful that his face was totally obscured by his helmet.

"Yeah. I didn't think it would use so much power. I've installed a regulator to lessen the power consumption for it, but I've got to be careful. I can recharge it at any time now, but only if it's got a spark of power left in the first place." Samus looked up as she saw a red door, and it was security locked. There was no elevator and no stairs. The only things she could see were platforms. She heard Gene sigh. "Never easy. Not when the president is involved." She jumped to the first ledge, grabbing it and pulling herself up. She looked down at where Gene was. Emphasis on _was_.

She looked up and saw him slowly rising into the air, small thrusters engaged on his heels.

"What the?" Gene looked at her and lowered himself to see her.

"Jet thrusters. This suit can take atmospheric re-entry without assistance and can land with no damage to me or it. Its awkward right hand makes me unable to grab ledges effectively however, so I just don't bother unless I'm falling and the ledge will buy me some small amount time to kick these online." He looked up. "Fifty feet. See you at the top. I'll scout things out for signs of danger." He flew up before she could say anything.

'He really is concerned for my safety. Why?' She dismissed her thoughts and began jumping from platform to platform, occasionally jumping off a wall as a shortcut. When she arrived at the top, Gene had opened a door and walked inside and was scanning a corridor.

"Good bottleneck location. If the need arises, this will make a good place to hold out while thinning any possible threats." He took a step forward as his motion detector registered Samus behind him. "Come on now, we should hurry with this. No telling what caused that explosion. And what caused us not to get a greeting from anyone here." As they continued, they passed a number of rooms, their maps updating as they walked on. When they reached their destination, Gene stayed outside while Samus went into the room. The door shut behind her and he heard shooting from within. He didn't have anything that could get the door open, but he had bigger problems.

...

"Damn Hornoad! Looks like the one that got me planet side!" She fired her power beam and saw it collapse to the floor before turning into a mass of yellow gelatin looking stuff. It flew at her and adhered to her left arm before the substance on her suit grew small tendrils and pulled it into the green portion of the suit. She stepped around the boxes, opened the door, and saw Gene ramming his sword into a larger hornoad, killing it instantly.

"Friggin' thing! Die!" He watched as it turned into green slime and rolled into the bluish green substance on his armor. "Finally. Ugly frickin' thing." He turned around and saw Samus. "Hornoad?" She nodded. "Smaller than the one I killed?" She nodded again. "Figures. You get the kid, I deal with Papa." She giggled as he fired a small wire into the ceiling. "Use this to get up there. Whatever caused this damage is serious business." She nodded and took hold of the makeshift rope and climbed up as Gene flew up to the ledge and landed softly.

"Where did it come from anyway? I didn't pick anything up on my tracker." Gene shrugged.

"No clue. The door shut behind you, I turned around and saw the thing behind me, growling and drooling. Three slices and then you open the door. That's all I know." They left the room after retrieving the rope and went to an elevator to a data room after receiving a notice about a large bio signature in a breeding area. Their objective was to get Samus her old missile launcher back.

...

En route they encountered some odd looking creatures. Samus dispatched one with a single shot while Gene rammed into them, turning them into masses of purple goo. They absorbed more X parasites and managed to reach the elevator with no injuries.

"Not bad. You're pretty dangerous for a rookie." Samus walked onto the platform first and Gene snickered as he stepped on.

"I think you'll find that I'm more than able to hang with the pros. I'm not in the news yet, but I can more than send the Space Pirates on a one way trip to Hell." Samus laughed in surprise.

"You've fought Space Pirates?" Gene nodded as the elevator slowly made its ascent.

"They may be annoying, and some of them can be more than a handful, but I've yet to meet one that could do more than a few lucky hits. Save one, who nearly got me yesterday." Samus listened as he spoke, wondering if he was telling the truth. Some hunters' spoke of killing a hundred or more pirates, but not one could accurately describe a single kind of them.

Some called them cats, some called them fish. Bugs were what they were, and she loved watching them die for what they did to her when she was a child.

"Damn bug crushed the left ankle pneumatic and fused the stupid latch on the chest plate. It was down hill from there, and I barely made it out alive. I ended up with two busted leg joints and a nearly dead battery with no ammo! Stupid cricket looking things almost had me from one lucky hit." He held up his left hand in frustration of the memory. "One bad hit is all it takes."

Samus laughed as the elevator finally reached the top floor. They walked inside and got her upgrade when the power went out and locked them in the upgrade room with only a few lights to keep them from not being able to see without night vision mode.


	4. Chitchat, hunger, and surprises

Disclaimer: Apart from owning most of the games, I have not received the rights to Metroid or Metroid Fusion.

Okay, it's been a long time since I've posted a chapter for this, and for that I'm sorry. I haven't thought of this fic much, but I've been working on it. So, I'm bringing it back from the desk.

…

"So why did you become a hunter Samus?" Gene asked. "I've always been curious about it." She looked at him silently. He had shed his armor and found a way to make the membrane, as he called it, go back under his skin. She had not had that stuff on her skin, but her suit manifested it fully. "I mean, you're a young woman who could easily find a much less hazardous line of work." She scoffed. She knew he meant no disrespect so she decided to tell him about the raid.

"When I was just a child, Ki Pirates raided my home colony." She explained. "They killed everyone but me. I got lucky and was trapped in a closet when they attacked. I found out that the pirate 'Ridley' had killed my parents. The Chozo got to me before the marines showed up and took me to a planet called Zebes, which the pirates also took from me sometime later." Gene was sitting with his left leg on the floor while his right knee supported his right arm. "The Chozo trained me until I was eighteen. They gave me the power suit and I thanked them and left.

I became a hunter to kill those damn bugs for what they did." She looked at Gene. She had removed her helmet and her arm cannon was sitting beside her. "What about you? Surely you've got a better reason than revenge." Gene laughed quietly as she stared at him.

"Not really." He said. "And I'm sure that I'd bore you with my story." She smiled at him, which made him stretch his arms. "Okay, if you want to sleep, it's your choice." She lay on her side as he leaned against the metal wall. "I'm not from this dimension originally. I don't know where I came from, no clue how I got here or why I was brought here, and I've no intention of going back. But as soon as I got here, I was bound and shoved into a tube." He looked at his right hand and made a fist before lowering his arm again. "The president made the order, figuring that since I had no I.D. and no family, I was perfect for his plans to make the ultimate cybernetically enhanced slave warrior." She gasped as he held up his right hand. "They removed my arm and replaced it with Biotech.

They injected me with nanites and that improved my strength and speed, and gave me some kind of techno-organic hacking ability. I also had Bio-mechanical lasers placed into my pupils, and the system that lets me store my suit in my arm." Samus looked at his eyes and wondered how painful it was.

"Did it hurt?" She asked. Gene gave a single hollow laugh.

"More than I've ever thought was possible." He answered. "No anesthetic, no morphine afterward, no nothing to lessen my pain. I got a heads up display in my eyes, so that was something useful.

I could see how much pain I was in, as well as where the pain was focused. I was little more than an unloved lab-rat." She placed her left hand over her mouth. "It's okay now though. A man named Earl Stantson sent a virus to an AI that broke me out. That AI was Frank, back then just called 'Computer'.

I got into the suit they made for me and Frank downloaded himself into the suit and my newly formed neural network." He saw a confused look on her face. "I've got a computer like network in my brain pretty much.

It lets me hack computers just by putting my hand on the keyboard, as well as allow me to act as a hosting server for an Artificial Intelligence. For all the pain they caused me, I've got to thank them for being assholes." He shook his head and sighed.

"What is it?" She asked. Gene looked at the ceiling.

"Frank and I have been together for five years." He said quietly. "I've known Earl just as long. I've been a bounty hunter for three years, mostly just to hide from Gerard. He gave up after a year, but I just couldn't call it quits.

I've helped many people, killed more, and stopped two planets from being overrun with mercs and pirates." He laughed. "I never even bothered to get a real friend in all that time. Or a girlfriend for that matter." Samus blushed and looked away. She wondered how long it had been since she herself had thought about things like that. "I don't know. Sometimes I just want to quit and go to a beach planet and just hang there for the rest of my life. I just don't have the scratch I guess, but maybe after this I'll retire." Samus chuckled.

"Really?" She asked. "Sounds like you love your job too much to call it quits now." Gene chuckled as he tried to figure out what was up with the power. He gave up when Samus put her helmet on again. "Should we try to destroy the door?" Gene shook his head.

"Frank said it's just a blown circuit." He said glumly. "He hacked a repair drone which is fixing it now. He should be done in a bit and we can check that life sign after we get out." Samus pressed a spot on the chest of her suit and it shrunk into a small coin, like the ones he had on his ship. "Cool. Collapsing suit tech." Samus giggled as Gene looked at her body. She wore a blue jumpsuit which showed off her body in all the right places.

"You like what you see?" She asked. Gene blushed.

"Sorry, but I can't help but stare at a cute girl." He said with a smirk. "And you fit the bill in spades." She giggled softly into her left hand. She had left the cannon out of the small disk, likely in case they were attacked again.

"You're not that bad yourself." She replied.

They both blushed as Gene awaited Frank getting the power back on. He looked at her as she absently moved her legs into a very seductive looking position.

'Is she trying to seduce me?' He began wondering. 'No, she probably just doesn't realize what she's...' Without warning, the door bent slightly inward, causing Gene to switch his eyes to MRI mode reflexively. He looked and saw a huge beast that was five steps away from the door, and it was curling into a large armored ball. With no idea how it got there, Gene engaged his armor as Samus did with hers.

She placed the cannon on her arm as the door began to bend further. The lights still weren't on, so Gene switched to low light mode as the door began to give way. The top part fell to the ground and the creature looked in with one beady eye.

Gene and Samus stood on either side of the door, waiting for the beast to give them an exit. Soon enough, it smashed the door aside and rushed into the wall. The two bounty hunters ran out into the open area below them. Gene went one way while Samus went the opposite.

"How do we kill it?" Samus yelled at him.

Gene looked up and saw the large, armored, and spiked ball slam into the ground. A quick scan revealed that its unarmored chest and front in general were susceptible to all forms of attack.

"Blast the front, dodge the attacks, and if that doesn't work, I'll laser that thing into next Monday!" He yelled back. Samus launched all five of her missiles into its chest, causing it to shriek in pain.

Gene fired his forehead mounted machine guns, pelting its legs making it drop to the ground. Samus pelted it with beam fire, mainly aiming for the head, making it retreat into its shell. It rolled at Gene before he dropped his sword in the way, making a ramp that slammed it into the low ceiling.

It rolled back down and Gene fired his optical lasers, cutting through the shell like a hot knife through butter, killing it with a lucky headshot. It melted into a multi colored goo puddle, much more than a normal X would make.

Samus walked up to the mass and it jumped into the air, only for her to grab it with her left hand and absorb it. Her suit glowed bright yellow for a moment and she lowered her helmet.

"Morph ball function reactivated." She said proudly. Gene looked at her and she raised her helmet and crouched into the fetal position before her suit turned into a small sphere, which Gene picked up.

"Now that, is impressive." He said happily. She shook in his hand and he heard her giggle from within.

"You've got one of your hands on my butt Gene." She said, still giggling. He blushed and set her down on the ground.

"My bad." He muttered. She un-morphed and he sheepishly rubbed the back of his helmet and looked up. He saw a vent and thought it might lead to an escape route. "Vent." She looked up.

"Maybe it leads back to the main area or something?" She replied. Gene shrugged as she returned to morph ball mode. "Give me a lift? I won't complain." Gene laughed as he picked her up.

In this form, she wasn't too much bigger than a beach ball, but she was a lot heavier, though not enough to give him any trouble at all. He flew through the vent, picking up five Missile tanks along the way. He landed beside the quarantine bay and set Samus on the ground, watching her return to normal. She sighed happily as she stretched.

"Cramped in that thing?" He asked. She chuckled as she shook her head.

"A bit, but I missed my morph ball." She said fondly. "It saved my life once when Ridley tried to eat me. I was in a braced area and he couldn't get to me thanks to my morph ball." Gene chuckled as he imagined the dragon like beast trying to eat the famous bounty hunter before him.

"Maybe I can find something like that while we're here." He said hopefully. She shrugged. They walked forward, Frank having given them the order to go to Sector 1 to clear the atmosphere of the X putrification of the air. They stepped onto the elevator and began their descent.

Several minutes later, they ended up hearing a massive explosion, followed by Gene getting hit in the head by a small piece of a door.

"What the hell?" Gene queried to the shaft. The elevator touched bottom and shut down completely. "Not good." Frank confirmed that he was on it, but the damage was extensive enough that it would take some time.

"Frank sure takes his job seriously." Samus commented. Gene nodded as he opened the door and Samus walked in, swaying her hips.

'Now she's getting to me.' He thought. 'Why though?' He walked in and stepped on the glowing pad as it started going down.

"So why is your armor so strange looking anyway?" She asked him. "It looks almost like a robotic human." Gene shrugged.

"Idiots in the lab." He said wearily. "I nicknamed one Stu before I left. Bet you can't guess his last name." He knew she wouldn't. She was almost always so serious, but she was opening up to him for some reason. She shook her head. "Pididiot. Stu Pididiot." Samus looked at him as the elevator reached their floor.

"I'm not sure I get it." She said slowly. Gene shrugged.

"It's an old joke from home." He said calmly. "Its 'stupid idiot', divided into names. Stu, Pid, idiot. See?" Samus chuckled for a moment before jumping down and shooting the door, and walking through.

Gene landed softly and followed, keeping an eye on his sensors, lest they be ambushed by whatever hit him with a piece of a door. They walked around before spotting one of the air purifiers. It was spewing out X parasites, causing Gene to become oddly hungry.

"Are you okay?" Samus asked quickly. Gene shook his head.

"I think I got a stronger dose of metroid DNA." He said. "I'm feeling a powerful urge to devour those things." She became scared as he retracted his armor and licked his lips. "I wonder what they taste like." He stepped forward as an X-hornoad jumped at him, but before Samus could shoot it, she gasped in horror. He had grabbed it by the head, and then he removed it with a single movement, decapitating it brutally. It turned into the slimy parasite as his membrane re-formed. His teeth grew and he absorbed the struggling virus into his hands. "Delicious. Almost like lemon mixed with banana." She looked at the machine and fired a missile at it, which did little damage to the protective covering made of fibrous X parasites.

"I can't shut it down." She said. Gene shrugged.

"I'll see if I can absorb them as is." He said casually. "It'll stop my hunger, and it'll take down the first of them. After that, we split up and return to the comm. room back there and we'll plan from there." She nodded as he leapt at the fan, tearing at the barrier with his newly formed claws.

He was calm about it, but he found himself absorbing large amounts of X in the process. He felt something stirring deep within him and sank his newly formed fangs deep within the covering and ripped part of it off. He absorbed the rest and leapt off of the fan as it began clearing the air.

"Gene?" Samus asked. She walked up to him and heard him stifle a small retch. "Are you okay?" She placed her left hand on his right shoulder and laughed when he turned around.

He had a large amount of dirt on his face. The machine had belched dirt all over him after he had torn off the biological covering of the fan.

"I'll remember to tame that stupid urge from now on." He said in an annoyed tone. She laughed harder at his annoyance. He wiped his face and had a very unhappy look, like he was ready to blow.

"You'd better." She said. "If all of them do that, you'll have to change your name to Mud." Gene mock chuckled at her as he finished cleaning his face.

"Hardy-har-har." He said sarcastically. "It won't happen any time soon at least. I feel stuffed to the gills." She chuckled as he re-engaged his armor. "Let's get going. We've got a lot of work to do, and I would like to avoid whatever shut down the elevator."

…

An hour went by quickly as Gene tore through the area. He had been able to destroy the X without devouring them, but he had felt no challenge. The small creatures were little more than target practice to him, taking one hit before turning to their parasite forms.

He would absorb them into the suit and charge his reserve tanks, of which he had ten. One thousand percent was what the suits power total read, meaning that it would take a frightfully strong creature to do any serious damage. Any damage incurred would instantly repair itself; a dent would buff itself, a scratch would disappear, and a crack would simply vanish.

"This is getting a little too easy." He said to himself. He looked down a shaft and saw something very confusing. "Samus?"

At the bottom of a long drop was what looked like her power suit, but he knew for a fact that her suit was in pieces and her spare suits were on her ship, and there was currently no way to retrieve any of them.

With no warning, the person in the suit looked up and fired an ice beam at him, which he barely dodged.

"God damn it!" He cursed loudly. He looked up as the figure landed in front of him. He turned on the comm. line as he fired a missile at the imposter, sending it back over the edge. "Frank, what the hell am I looking at here?" He asked with a frightful tone.

"I don't know." Frank replied. "It looks like Samus, but I know for a fact that she is waiting in the communications room by the elevator." Gene watched as the fake Samus landed in front of him again, the only visible damage being a crack in the visor. "Be careful; this may be the X parasite that defeated Samus before." He felt his blood chill several degrees as the figure raised a frightfully familiar looking arm cannon.

"This is nothing but bad news." He said as he dodged another set of ice beams. They fired fast, but they weren't that difficult to avoid. "You think you can win just because you look like her?"

The imposter fired a missile at him, making him yelp. He couldn't dodge that one, it was following him.

"Fuuuuuuck!" He yelled as the explosive slammed into his back, sending him flying into the room behind him. He quickly stood up and looked in horror as the figure slowly advanced upon him. "You're going to regret doing that." He stood up and fired his own beam weapon at thirty percent power, just enough to avoid piercing the station walls.

The beam ripped through the figure easily, but it was pointless. The hole slowly oozed shut and restored the armor and the figure fired another ice beam at him, freezing his left arms elbow servo. The figure menacingly walked toward him, not knowing what he had planned.

"Samus, we have a massive problem." He said into the comm.

"What is it?" She asked. He sent a video feed to the room she was in. "It can't be."

"It can, and it is." He replied, dodging an ice beam. The imposter was toying with him. "I think I'll call it; SA-X, or Samus Aran, X style." He heard her gasp as he narrowly avoided a missile, which destroyed a small Hornoad behind him. "Are there any weak points in the armor that I should be aware of Samus?" He heard her mumbling as he dodged three more ice beams. "Take your time; I've got plenty of power left." His power gauge read seven hundred and three percent, but the external temperature was dropping with each beam shot at him.

"Aim for the cannon as it charges." Samus said over the comm. "If you time the shot right, it should explode."

"Understood; aim for the cannon and hope for the best." He replied. He dodged beam after beam, feeling the chill worsening. "I've always wanted to see how I'd fare against you Samus." He heard her gasp as she read his HUD. The words were clear: Particle disruptor. It was one of his strongest weapons.

"Gene, what are you doing?" She asked.

"Particle disruption at sub-zero temperatures…" He began. He narrowly avoided a torso hit from the beam weapon. The SA-X then charged the cannon and began running at him. "Dampens the explosion enough to avoid major damage." He dodged each swing of the impostors arm cannon, noting the drastic drop in temperature at the tip of the weapon. "And if I time this right, I can stop this thing in its tracks." The SA-X jumped back and held the cannon level with his own, now charged at forty seven percent. The imposter made a sound like a gasp as he fired his shot down the barrel.

"You Metroid scum!" It screamed. The cannon glowed brightly, followed by the armor, finally ending at the visor with the figure looking at the ceiling, both arms outstretched. The suit exploded violently, revealing a gelatinous blue blob.

"And that ends that." Gene said. He walked over to the mass as it tried to slither away. "Oh no, you're not getting away that easily." He stomped on the center of the parasite, letting small tendrils of his membrane begin the process of absorbing his powerful foe.

"I don't know if that's a good idea Gene." Samus said warily. "It could be dangerous." She saw a small representation of his suit, still on the HUD, shrug.

"More dangerous than splicing my genetic code with an energy devouring jellyfish?" He retorted. He felt the familiar rush before feeling a sharp pain throughout his entire body. "Switch to external camera views." He said in a strained voice.

"Gene?" Samus called. "Are you okay?" She watched as his membrane went from silver to a bright orange with silver lines at various points. "Gene?" She was worried that absorbing such a powerful X would leave him damaged instead of more powerful, as she had absorbed a similar, although red, X of similar size.

"I'm fine." He finally said. "Just a bit dazed. That thing was freezing cold, but it stopped hurting after a few seconds."


End file.
